Canucks face Stanley Cup Game 7 decider after 5-2 loss to Bruins

Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara knocks Vancouver Canucks captain Henrik Sedin to the ice during Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final on Monday at TD Garden in Boston.Bruce Bennett
/ Getty Images

Cory Schneider (left) of the Vancouver Canucks replaces Roberto Luongo after Luongo surrendered three goals in the first period of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final on Monday in Boston.Elsa
/ Getty Images

BOSTON — The home team has won all six games of the Stanley Cup final and the Vancouver Canucks now must hope nothing changes.

That's about all the Canucks have left to cling to after suffering another humiliating defeat at the TD Garden.

With the Cup theirs for the taking, the Canucks suffered an embarrassing 5-2 loss Monday night to the Boston Bruins and now must regroup to play a seventh and deciding game Wednesday night (5 p.m., CBC, Team 1040) at Rogers Arena.

It will either be seventh heaven or one hell of a disappointing ending to what has been a magical season for the Canucks. Until now.

Game 6 was their worst nightmare. The Bruins had a 4-0 lead before the first period was half over and chased goalie Roberto Luongo after he allowed three goals on the first eight shots he faced.

The Canucks have now been outscored 17-3 in the three games played at the Garden and 19-8 overall in the series.

They managed to rebound to win Game 5 at home on Friday night after being pasted 8-1 and 4-0 in Games 3 and 4 in Boston and now an entire province will have to hold its collective breath and hope, maybe pray, the team can find a way to do it again.

"We know what the prize is," said Vancouver centre Manny Malhotra. "If you told us back in September that we'd have Game 7 in Vancouver for the Stanley Cup final we would have taken it all day long. So nothing changes for us."

That was the mantra in the Canucks’ dressing room, repeated over and over again. They like their chances at home.

But the fact is, Luongo will have to be much better than he was Monday night. It might be best to keep the Stanley Park seawall clear because Luongo looks to be in need of another long, solitary walk.

"I have to believe in myself, right," Luongo said. "That's a big component of bouncing back and playing a good game. We're going to put what happened tonight behind us as soon as possible and get ready for obviously what is going to be a dream as far as playing in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final."

While Luongo runs hot and cold, Boston goalie Tim Thomas continues to stymie the Canucks. He has given up just eight goals in six games.

The Canucks could not have scripted a worse start to the game.

Brad Marchand and Milan Lucic scored 35 seconds apart early in the first and Luongo didn't look good on either of them. He looked even worse when defenceman Andrew Ference beat him from the left point on a power play at the 8:35 mark. That was it for Luongo.

Cory Schneider's night didn't start much better.

The Bruins scored on their second shot on Schneider, when Michael Ryder tipped in a Tomas Kaberle point shot at 9:45. Coach Alain Vigneault called a timeout to try and rally his troops, but it was too late. The damage had been done.

Marchand got things started at 5:31 of the first when he scored off the rush, beating Luongo high to the short side from the left circle.

"I was there," Luongo said of Marchand's shot. "It was a good shot, but at the same time I have to make that save. He put it where he wanted, but I have to make a save there."

Lucic made it 2-0 when he took a pass from Rich Peverley and put a shot through Luongo's legs.

"Honestly, I had a good feeling all day," Luongo said. "It was not extra nerves or anything like that. I was excited to play and we had a chance to win the Cup."

They still do, but the Bruins don't figure to make it easy. Vancouver has won all three games at home, but each has been by the slimmest of one-goal margins.

"Everyone in the Chicago series was counting us out, we were going to fold in Game 7, and everyone questioned us in Game 5 back home if we'd be able to stop the bleeding," Schneider said. "We're two different teams, they seem to play better at home and we seem to play better at home as well. We'll take every advantage we can get."

The score wasn't the only bad news for the Canucks, who lost winger Mason Raymond 20 seconds into the first period. Raymond was hurt when he was run into the corner boards by Boston defenceman Johnny Boychuk. Raymond spent a couple of minutes down on the ice before being helped to the Vancouver dressing room. He was then taken to hospital for observation.

The second period was scoreless, which from a Canuck perspective was a moral victory of sorts.

Vancouver's power play finally clicked 22 seconds into the third period when Henrik Sedin beat Thomas on a backhand for his first goal and point of the series.

The Canucks thought they had cut Boston's lead to 4-2 at the 3:17 mark when Jannik Hansen appeared to beat Thomas stick side. But replays showed the shot hit the inside of the post and did not cross the goal line.

The Bruins restored their four-goal lead at 6:59 when David Krejci converted a back-door pass by Mark Recchi while Boston was on a 5-on-3 power play.

Maxim Lapierre added a mean-nothing goal with 2:26 left in the third.

The challenge now for the Bruins will be to take their road game to Vancouver for Game 7.

"Well, I think we are very well aware of how we've played on the road the last three games in Vancouver," said Boston coach Claude Julien. "It hasn't been good enough and our plan is certainly to change that for Game 7. We've created ourselves another opportunity and it's up to us to take advantage of it."

• How do you grade each Canuck's performance in Game 6? Grade the players here.

View related video below of the fan scenes from West Georgia Street in Vancouver.

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